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I am native from a non-English speaking country. Went to a bilingual school, picked English with A-levels and the works. Picked French at 15, but really got se

I am native from a non-English speaking country. Went to a bilingual school, picked English with A-levels and the works. Picked French at 15, but really got serious in my early 20s. It has allowed me to re-read a lot of my favourites (Dumas, Verne, Flaubert) in their original language. Also a lot of what I consider cornerstone of modern society in their original versions (Zola, Le Bon). Had to pick up Portuguese on the job at 25, my previous experience learning languages made it fairly easy to do. I discovered new songs, movies, plays, and authors with each new language. Now I speak 4 languages, and I want to get to a fifth in the next decade (some Chinese, Arabic or German).At least to me it has opened my professional and intellectual viewport. It has made me better at abstraction, and while travelling across wide parts of the world, I never feel too disconnected (Americas, large parts of Europe, Africa and Oceania feel very accesible to me.) I can see how if English is your native tongue the value of learning other languages might seem marginal, but for the rest of the world being at least bilingual is a necessity.

gambiting 3y ago
I come from Poland, and before I reached 18 years old I spent about 12 years learning English + full 10 years learning German. I'm completely fluent in English, and I don't remember anything from German, maybe few words here and there. It was 100% waste of my time and I wish I didn't do it. And I also think the only reason English "stuck" is because it's so damn ubiquitous everywhere, and as a kid and teenager I wanted to be on the internet, to watch foreign films, play foreign games and talk to people abroad - all in English. So I actually agree with both of you - learning a second language(English) is essential, but if it's a language you don't have much exposure to outside of school, it's a waste of time.
- pests 3y ago
  Do you still speak Polish? I've tried and failed a few times trying to learn, have some ancestors from the area. Now not directed at you, the age ranges in your post did make me do some research. Apparently being a "native speaker" is not so well defined. Learned in childhood yes, but what's the age cutoff? Saw some references to before 5. Any thoughts on this? Seeing as you've lost the German with similar exposure. Just curious, ignorant single language American here.
  - gambiting 3y ago
    I do speak Polish, as does my wife :-) And I'm not sure - our son is 3 and speaks both English and Polish without any trouble. I myself only started learning English and German at 6 and 8 respectively, which I do think is too late to be trully and completely bilingual - like I'm fluent in English and after years of living in the UK I don't think I have much of an accent left, but I don't think I can ever be as good as someone who learnt English from birth.
lotsoweiners 3y ago
> but for the rest of the world being at least bilingual is a necessity. Sure but the post you’re replying to is stating that he didn’t retain anything from years of foreign language classes in school. Most people learn fluency in additional languages outside of a classroom setting.
fy20 3y ago
I went to a high school that specialised in foreign languages. During my time there I did 6 years of French and German, and 1 year each of Japanese and Spanish. And I can speak none of those. Maybe in German I can just about order a coffee. It's not that I forgot, I just didn't learn anything. As an adult I have lived in a lot of different countries, including over 12 years in non-English speaking countries. I've been living in my current country for over 5 years, and I speak barely enough to get by in a shop. Other than my ability to learn languages being non-existent, the issue here is everyone speaks English very well, so it's easy to fall back to it. The other day I went and asked for something in a shop, tried really hard, and the cashier just responded to me in English. In my work everyone speaks English too. On the other hand, from the time she started speaking, my daughter was fluently able to speak English and her native language. She would come and ask me for something in English, and if I said no, she'd go ask my wife in her language :D Whenever I pick her up from kindergarden the other kids talk to me in English - they say they learnt by watching YouTube. My colleagues all have similar stories, that they learnt English by watching American TV shows. I'm guessing what happens is that for a lot of non-native English speakers there is a big advantage to learning English, and once you learn that, your brain figures out how to learn other languages. But for native English speakers we don't have that, so learning any kind of foreign language is hard. This is probably why countries like Spain or China have low-levels of English speakers (and those that can speak often don't speak well and/or have strong accents), because there isn't much advantage for them to learn it.

gambiting 3y ago

I come from Poland, and before I reached 18 years old I spent about 12 years learning English + full 10 years learning German. I'm completely fluent in English, and I don't remember anything from German, maybe few words here and there. It was 100% waste of my time and I wish I didn't do it. And I also think the only reason English "stuck" is because it's so damn ubiquitous everywhere, and as a kid and teenager I wanted to be on the internet, to watch foreign films, play foreign games and talk to people abroad - all in English. So I actually agree with both of you - learning a second language(English) is essential, but if it's a language you don't have much exposure to outside of school, it's a waste of time.

pests 3y ago
Do you still speak Polish? I've tried and failed a few times trying to learn, have some ancestors from the area. Now not directed at you, the age ranges in your post did make me do some research. Apparently being a "native speaker" is not so well defined. Learned in childhood yes, but what's the age cutoff? Saw some references to before 5. Any thoughts on this? Seeing as you've lost the German with similar exposure. Just curious, ignorant single language American here.
- gambiting 3y ago
  I do speak Polish, as does my wife :-) And I'm not sure - our son is 3 and speaks both English and Polish without any trouble. I myself only started learning English and German at 6 and 8 respectively, which I do think is too late to be trully and completely bilingual - like I'm fluent in English and after years of living in the UK I don't think I have much of an accent left, but I don't think I can ever be as good as someone who learnt English from birth.

lotsoweiners 3y ago

> but for the rest of the world being at least bilingual is a necessity. Sure but the post you’re replying to is stating that he didn’t retain anything from years of foreign language classes in school. Most people learn fluency in additional languages outside of a classroom setting.

fy20 3y ago

I went to a high school that specialised in foreign languages. During my time there I did 6 years of French and German, and 1 year each of Japanese and Spanish. And I can speak none of those. Maybe in German I can just about order a coffee. It's not that I forgot, I just didn't learn anything. As an adult I have lived in a lot of different countries, including over 12 years in non-English speaking countries. I've been living in my current country for over 5 years, and I speak barely enough to get by in a shop. Other than my ability to learn languages being non-existent, the issue here is everyone speaks English very well, so it's easy to fall back to it. The other day I went and asked for something in a shop, tried really hard, and the cashier just responded to me in English. In my work everyone speaks English too. On the other hand, from the time she started speaking, my daughter was fluently able to speak English and her native language. She would come and ask me for something in English, and if I said no, she'd go ask my wife in her language :D Whenever I pick her up from kindergarden the other kids talk to me in English - they say they learnt by watching YouTube. My colleagues all have similar stories, that they learnt English by watching American TV shows. I'm guessing what happens is that for a lot of non-native English speakers there is a big advantage to learning English, and once you learn that, your brain figures out how to learn other languages. But for native English speakers we don't have that, so learning any kind of foreign language is hard. This is probably why countries like Spain or China have low-levels of English speakers (and those that can speak often don't speak well and/or have strong accents), because there isn't much advantage for them to learn it.